Forget safeguarding drones against hacks -- if Boeing and Hacking Team have their way, robotic aircraft would dish out a few internet attacks of their own. Email conversations posted on WikiLeaks reveal that the two companies want drones to carry devices that inject spyware into target computers through WiFi networks. If a suspect makes the mistake of using a computer at a coffee shop, the drone could slip in surveillance code from a safe distance.

GPS was declared fully operational two decades ago, and what better way to celebrate your 20th birthday than with a rockin' party satellite launch. The US Air Force's Space Command (probably) toasted with military-grade champagne after firing a shiny new GPS satellite into orbit on an Atlas V rocket from Florida. GPS IIF-10 is the seventieth piece of navigation hardware that's been sent into space as part of the program that's been running sine 1978 and has been available for everyone to use since 1995.

NASA has selected four veteran astronauts to work with both SpaceX and Boeing in preparation for commercial spaceflights. It's a major step for both NASA and the US government towards returning space launches to the USA: in recent years it's had to depend on Russia to get people (and things) into space. NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said that the four astronauts will be: "blazing a new trail -- a trail that will one day land them in the history books and Americans on the surface of Mars." Astronauts and test pilots Robert Behnken, Eric Boe, Douglas Hurley and Sunita Williams will help develop the commercial company's crew transport systems, and help take astronauts to and from the International Space Station.

At the Paris Air Show earlier this week, Boeing showed off a few of its 787-9 Dreamliner's tricks, including a near vertical takeoff. This new YouTube video shows the flight demo from several angles: one has the fuel-efficient plane in full view, another gives you the chance to watch what went on inside the cockpit and the last one shows the flight from the plane's perspective. YouTube launched multiple camera angles as an experimental feature earlier this year, making the option available to select users. It uses an algorithm that syncs all the angles as you play the video, and you only have to either click on any of them or press their respective numbers on the keyboard to switch views.

You may not think of insects as a problem for aircraft (Bambi Meets Godzilla comes to mind), but they really are -- the residue from those splattered bugs slows aircraft down and hikes fuel consumption. NASA may soon have a way to keep those critters from causing so much trouble, however. It recently conducted flight testing for a promised non-stick wing coating that stops ex-bugs from inducing drag. The layer, which combines a lotus leaf-inspired ("microscopically-rough") repellant surface with anti-sticking chemicals, was good enough to cut back on the nasty organic residue by as much as 40 percent.

NASA is on track to bring human spaceflight back to the US. The agency has ordered its first "crew rotation" mission from Boeing, which will involve ferrying astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS). NASA says it expects to make a similar order with Elon Musk's SpaceX later this year -- afterwards, it will decide which of the two companies to green-light for the first mission in late 2017. However, the date for this milestone moment in US spaceflight could shift. For one, Boeing and SpaceX still need to complete NASA's certification process before they can undertake any missions. For another, NASA's Commercial Crew Program is dependent on adequate funding through 2016 and beyond. If it comes up short, the agency says it "will have to delay future milestones for both partners proportionally and extend sole reliance on Russia." We're keeping our fingers crossed.

The 787 Dreamliner has been plagued with battery woes since its early days, to the point where the Federal Aviation Administration kept it from flying the skies in the past. And while those technical difficulties are apparently taken care of, Boeing's flagship airliner could be on the way to more trouble soon. According to the FAA, there's a software bug in the 787 Dreamliner that can cause its electrical system to fail and, as a result, lead to "loss of control" of the plane. But why? The FAA says this is triggered by the aircraft's electrical generators, which could give out if they have been powered on continuously for over eight months.

Ask someone in the street what they know about the Air Force's top-secret space plane and you'll probably wind up getting pinched by the NSA. Nobody can claim to know much about the X-37B, beyond the fact that it's the force's long-term space vehicle, capable of staying in orbit for more than a year at a time. In the run up to the craft's next jaunt around the planet, however, someone has let slip the details of an experiment that it'll be carrying out. According to Spaceflight Now, Air Force officials have revealed that the autonomous drone will be used as the test-bed for a new type of Hall effect thruster.

Boeing's new ecoDemonstrator (a 757) is slated to go on a series of flights this spring to try out two of NASA's experimental fuel-saving techniques. One of them's the Active Flow Control Enhanced Vertical Tail Flight Experiment, which entails installing 31 tiny jets on a plane's vertical tail or dorsal fin, as you can see below the fold. These jets can manipulate the flow of air over the tail's surface and generate enough force to stabilize the plane during takeoff and landing, even if the fin's around 17 percent smaller than usual. A smaller tail means a lighter plane and, hence, lower fuel consumption.

To keep their skills sharp, US Air Force pilots routinely fly simulated sorties against domestic planes with similar flight capabilities to that of enemy planes. For years, this decoy duty has fallen to specially modified, unmanned F-4 Phantom IIs, however these Vietnam-era fighters can no longer keep up with America's modern warplanes. That's why the USAF recently took delivery of a new breed of autonomous target based on the venerable F-16 Fighting Falcon.

"Captain, magnetic seals in the anti-matter chamber are decaying!" "Shields up!" Now that we have that out of our systems, let's start by saying that unlike a Star Trek-style deflector, Boeing's plasma "shield" could never block shells or bullets, let alone anti-matter explosions. But if its patent "for shockwave attenuation via electromagnetic arc" ever amounts to anything, it'd still be a technological tour de force. The idea is to harness electrical energy to stop or slow down the shockwaves created by explosions, which can do just as much damage as shrapnel.

The Justice Department's newest electronic dragnet--plane-mounted "dirtboxes" that can slurp thousands of cellular phone ID's from the air -- was originally developed by the CIA to hunt terrorists in the Middle East, The Wall Street Journal reports. Now however, it's being used domestically to track American citizens. That's not good.

In today's Daily Roundup, we look at Oculus Story Studio, the new film-innovation lab creating cinematic content to take advantage of VR devices. Meanwhile, Apple continues to crush it and announces when the Apple Watch will ship, and we learn more about how a drone landed on the White House grounds at 3 AM. Head past the break to get your fill of today's technology news.

SpaceX and Boeing spoke together in public for the first time with NASA and unveiled their plans to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) in 2017. NASA selected the companies last September to build manned spacecraft for its Commercial Crew Program, and both have tight schedules to make. A crucial phase will be the so-called pad abort tests, which "provide astronauts a means of escaping a potentially catastrophic situation," according to NASA. Boeing will run its pad abort tests in February 2017, with an uncrewed flight test in April and a full mission with a test pilot and NASA astronaut slated for July, 2017. Meanwhile, SpaceX's pad abort test and in-flight abort test are scheduled for later this year, with a manned trip planned for 2017.

On top of laser weapons, passenger jets and space stuff Boeing is also, weirdly, building an ultra-secure Android smartphone called "Black" (not to be confused with the Blackphone). According to the Telegraph, it's now enlisted BlackBerry's help to make it even more secure, though it's not clear how, exactly. BlackBerry CEO John Chen said "we're pleased to announce that Boeing is collaborating with BlackBerry to provide a secure mobile solution for Android devices utilizing our BES 12 platform" and quickly added, "that, by the way, is all they allow me to say." The Boeing Black smartphone recently cleared the FAA FCC and comes with all the stuff a spook or G-man could want.

Curious about what the official word regarding the Boeing Dreamliner's faulty battery is? Of course you are. The National Transportation Safety Board says that the reason for the non-fatal fire was due to "deficiencies in the design and certification process," and has a few fingers to point. The board says that Boeing itself is at fault, calling its safety assessments of the lithium-ion units insufficient. Yuasa, the battery manufacturer, isn't free from blame either. As The Wall Street Journal notes, Yuasa's production process apparently allowed for defects that could cause short-circuiting in the battery's internal cells, and the final battery design was actually different than the one tested and certified. The NTSB goes on to call out the Federal Aviation Administration for its lack of oversight regarding the outsourcing of components in the Dreamliner as well.

Following its longest-ever mission by far, the 11,000 pound X-37B unmanned spacecraft has returned to Earth bearing... well, we don't actually know. You see, after NASA and Boeing developed the craft (about a fifth the size of the Space Shuttle), it bounced over to the Air Force, which is using it for top-secret missions. The X-37B's longest previous flight lasted about 15 months, and this time, it stayed in orbit just shy of two years. As for what it was doing up there, exactly, cue the speculation. Some experts think it was launching spy gear from the pickup-bed-sized payload bay, while others believe it was designed to capture or impair enemy satellites. The Air Force denies all that, saying it was just testing space tech like advanced guidance, robotic systems and autonomous orbital flight. It certainly nailed the latter -- with no human at the controls, the X-37B made a perfect touchdown following a 218 mile-high descent. To see it, check the all-too-brief video below.

Waiting for a space taxi? It looks like it might show up a little late. Of course, it's only NASA astronauts currently in line for one of the agency's recently commissioned spacecraft, but both companies involved -- Boeing and SpaceX -- will have to down-tools after the third company in the mix (and the only one to not get commissioned) protests the awarded contracts. While Boeing scooped the lion's share ($4.2 billion), SpaceX also picked up $2.6 billion in funding to develop craft that will shuttle astronauts to the ISS. Currently NASA relies on Russian ships for this expensive service. Sierra Nevada claims it could do the same work as Boeing, but for a full $900 million less. The disgruntled firm also claims NASA's own debrief on the selection contains inconsistencies and raises "serious questions." NASA has 30 days to respond to the allegations. With current seats on Russian craft running a cool $70 million a time, that certainly puts the cost of a cab stuck in traffic firmly in perspective.

A fleet of 737s and 777s are definitely in line for an upgrade, now that the Federal Aviation Administration has ordered airlines to replace their cockpits' displays with ones not vulnerable to WiFi signals. Let's go back a few years to understand what's going on here. See, back when the use of wireless internet aboard airplanes was only just starting to take off, Boeing conducted a test, which discovered that WiFi signals affected 737 and 777 cockpit displays. These screens, which showed pilots important flight data such as altitude and airspeed, flickered and even blanked out completely in the presence of WiFi. In one particular bad test run, the screen remained blank for a full six minutes.

Wondering why NASA gave Boeing the lion's share of its space taxi funding? Jeff Bezos could have something to do with it. Shortly after NASA awarded Boeing $4.2 billion in funding, the Wall Street Journalclaimed the company padded its bid with a partnership with Bezos' Blue Origin. Turns out, the WSJ was right: today Blue Origin and the United Launch Alliance (a joint venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin) entered an agreement to fund and build the Blue Origin BE-4 rocket engine. Basically, Boeing is going to build NASA's space taxi capsules and Bezos' rocket company is going to launch them out of our atmosphere.

There had been rumors of NASA awarding Boeing a big contract for its Commercial Crew Program, and it turns out that the claims were true -- and then some. The agency has just announced that both Boeing's CST-100 capsule and SpaceX's Dragon V2 will ferry American astronauts to the International Space Station from 2017 onward. Most of the funding ($4.2 billion) will go to Boeing's entry, but the SpaceX deal is still pretty hefty at $2.6 billion. Once both vehicles are certified and tested, they'll participate in manned scientific missions (up to six each) and serve as lifeboats in emergencies. Unfortunately, Sierra Nevada's aircraft-like Dream Chaser isn't part of the picture. It's ultimately a good day for space travel, but those hoping for a Space Shuttle-like design will be disappointed.

NASA may have been even-handed when it started doling out money to contractors for its space taxi program, but there are hints that it's about to play favorites. The Wall Street Journalhears from anonymous officials that Boeing is now the odds-on favorite to get the majority of NASA's astronaut transportation business. SpaceX, once thought to be the frontrunner, would be relegated to a "second source" alongside Sierra Nevada. Reportedly, the agency sees Boeing's CST-100 capsule as the easy choice -- it carries relatively few risks, and is more likely to be ready for business in three years than SpaceX's Dragon V2.

Update: Sure enough, NASA announced its contracts today. Boeing will get the lion's share of the business with $4.2 billion in funding, but SpaceX isn't exactly a bit player here -- it's getting $2.6 billion. Sierra Nevada's Dream Chaser won't be part of the picture, however.

Boeing has a prettystoried history with lasers and now its testing one that can take out UAVs and rockets regardless of where it's installed. A recent trial run of the tech was conducted in Florida under some pretty grueling conditions (heavy fog, rain and wind), to prove that even a lower-powered version of High Energy Laser Mobile Demonstrator -- HEL MD for short -- is capable in a maritime environment. As Boeing tells it, the firm exceeded all of its goals and successfully engaged with some 150 different targets including drones and 60mm mortar shells with its 10 kilowatt laser. Wired says that the energy beam is powered by lithium ion batteries, and that the whole setup only requires a diesel-backed generator to keep the wheels of war defense moving. Meaning, running out of fuel, not munitions, is basically the only threat the energy weapon faces.

Existing drone aircraft are useful for many things, but they make for lousy target practice when you're testing missiles; they're rarely as maneuverable as modern fighter jets. Boeing and one of its customers have just shown that there's a better way, however, by firing a surface-to-air missile at a remote-controlled QF-16. As you'll see in the video below, the unmanned aircraft is much nimbler than either a purpose-built vehicle or an aging conversion like the QF-4, and gives weapons a real workout. It even managed to dodge the projectile, although you can't really say that the shooters missed. The missile was tuned to avoid hitting its target -- sensors on both the missile and QF-16 confirmed that the weapon was on track without having to blow up expensive equipment. It'll be a while longer before the airplane is regularly serving as an aerial punching bag, but this test proves that it's up to the job.

This week, we reviewed NVIDIA's Shield tablet, toured a graveyard of Boeing 747s, discussed the future of Xbox One, visited the new Sky Sports News HQ and more! Read on for Engadget's news highlights from the last seven days. Oh, and be sure to subscribe to our Flipboard magazine!